spinal injury
Because it can cut, pinch, or damage the spinal cord, a mass of nerve tissue that connects the brain to the body and runs from the base of the skull to the second lumbar vertebra. All our movements and sensations originate from nerve impulses that depart from the brain, are conducted by the spinal cord and stimulate the muscles, connected to bones and other organs. In the event of an injury, one or many of these functions may be compromised. But it takes high-energy trauma for all the protective musculature, ligaments, and bones to be disrupted. This happens most often in cases of car accidents, gunshot wounds, falls from great heights, or diving into shallow water. After the spinal cord is affected, it may take several months before it can be said whether the injury was complete (with loss of movement and sensation below the level of the trauma) or incomplete (with preservation of certain motor functions and sensation).
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FROM COAST TO COAST
The spine consists of 33 vertebrae and is divided into five parts: the cervical spine (seven vertebrae), the thoracic spine (12 vertebrae), the lumbar spine (five vertebrae), the sacral spine (five vertebrae) and the coccygeal spine (four or five vertebrae).
HEIGHT QUESTION
The higher the injury, the greater the severity, because the signal from the brain is no longer sent to the nerves in the vertebrae below the injured one. “The medulla is like an electricity cable that is carrying light to several houses on a street”, says Luciano Miller Reis Rodrigues, orthopedist and head of the spine group at Faculdade de Medicina do ABC. “If you break the cable at the first house, all will be turned off, but if you break it in the middle of the street, only the ones from the middle to the end will be off”
Closed body
The types of paralysis caused by serious spinal injuries
PARAPLEGIA
It requires a complete injury from the seventh cervical vertebra. The patient loses movement and sensation in the lower limbs
TETRAPLEGIA
It happens in the case of complete damage up to C6. The patient has all four limbs paralyzed. It is worth mentioning that damage to C5 or C6 (incomplete injury) may allow certain arm movements
CONSULTANCY Luciano Miller Reis Rodrigues, head of the spine group at Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, and Rodrigo Faleiro, coordinator of the Trauma Department of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery and Hospital João XXIII, in Belo Horizonte
SOURCES presentation Spinal Cord Trauma, by dr. Antonio Eulalio, and booklet Guidelines for Care for Persons with Spinal Cord Injuries, from the Ministry of Health